Two Hearts, One Home | | J&T

Chapter 5

Mood Music- Memories by Maroon 5

Our new flat wasn't too far away from the Dumping Ground, just outside town in a little complex that seemed homely enough based on its exterior. We appeared to have been driving for around 20 minutes when we pulled up, which suggested it could be easily driven to from our previous house but not walked, which seemed good enough.

The blocks of flats were fairly short at three rows high, with each having a rectangular window at the side. It was a council estate, so it had some signs of disruption, but it actually seemed like somewhere I could see myself living for the foreseeable future. We stepped out of the car and looked up at the building we'd be living in- building D- while May Li retrieved our things from the boot of the car.

"Do you need any help bringing it up?" She questioned as she removed the last suitcase.

"Nah, there's two of us, I think we'll be alright." I responded. I wanted to make our goodbye happen as soon as possible, since I knew it would be the hardest and I wanted to get it over with.

"Well, okay then. I guess this is goodbye." Her voice was shaking as she spoke, her eyes glassing over as if in time with mine. May Li had always been there for me for as long as I could remember, through the good times and the bad, and she truly was like a mum to me.

"I guess it is." I pulled her into a hug, letting a tear glide onto her shoulder. Whilst leaving Tyler was hard, this was the hardest thing I'd ever had to do in my life. May Li was the one who had never failed to be by our side, and I would forever refer to her as my mother rather than the real, rather useless one I had. We pulled away as she went into hug Sasha, who was just as emotional as I was. May Li then addressed the both of us, wiping her eyes subtly.

"You are both strong, fearless young women, who can do anything they put their minds to. Never forget that, yeah?" We both nodded, sniffling faintly.

"We'll come back and visit, I promise." I added, just as May Li was turning around to leave. She smiled at us, and headed back into the car, driving away without a second word. We had really moved out.

We stood in silence for a moment, seemingly pondering on what had just happened before Sasha broke the silence to lighten the mood.

"Last one up gets the small bedroom?" She spoke, cracking a smile, which I returned.

"You're on, Bellman!" I replied, grabbing my bags and rushing toward the entry of our building. We both ran up the stairs, inserting the key into the lock and crashing onto our sofa simultaneously, even though I had the advantage of holding the key.

"You can have it." Sasha said breathlessly, sending me a smile once again. I took my bags into my room before realizing we had left our front door open- probably not the best start. I made my way over to the entrance and pulled the door too when I noticed our neighbor across the corridor. We were at the far end of the floor we were situated on which meant we had a full view of the whole walkway, but the door directly next us caught my attention. It appeared run down, not like the rest of the building, but even more gloomy and broken, with white strips of paint scraped up and the doorknob barely hanging on. It appeared its resident must have lived there a long time, either that or they were here from a less fortunate place. I made a mental note to play the nice neighbor role and meet them at some stage.

"Jodes?" I heard Sasha call from the lounge. I headed over, seeing her already on the TV watching some sort of daytime show.

"No TV hours! I'm LIVING!" I laughed at the innocence, although she was right- the freedom was amazing, but still something I'd have to get used to.

"Sash, do you know who our next-door neighbor is? The one at number 6?" She pulled her eyebrows together, sitting up slightly.

"No, I don't think so. There was a bit of background information on the building in the pack we were given if you want to have a look." I smiled at her, picking up the envelope that was on the table. I pulled out the sheet which contained the rules and the building info.